The documentary Mariononi: The Fire in the Frame is about Giuseppe Marinoni, a sharp-tongued, grumpy granddad hoping to beat a cycling record.
What's more boring than an inspirational sports story?
We get it: The underdog wins. We all saw Rocky II. And even when he doesn't win win, he "goes the distance," pushing himself to the limit, running on the razor's edge, etc. We all saw Rocky I. So it's hard getting invested in Marinoni: The Fire in the Frame, a doc exploring the struggle of a 75-year-old bicycle manufacturer to beat the "hour record" – that's the distance travelled on a closed track in 60 minutes – for his age group.
Filmmaker Tony Girardin peers over Giuseppe Marinoni as he trains, welds frames in his Terrebonne, Que., workshop, and follows him back to his hometown in Italy, where he reminisces about his youth racing two-wheelers. It's a bit blah, though enlivened considerably by the figure of Marinoni: a sharp-tongued, grumpy granddad, totally charming as he walks through a park to fawn over wild mushrooms.
The one-hour, one-man race proves a little anticlimactic (it's just a guy whipping around in circles, after all). But the sight of Marinoni gunning through those last laps proves fittingly, or at least sufficiently, inspirational.
Editor's note: Tony Girardin works in Terrebonne, Que. Incorrect information appeared in the original version of this article.